As memory type audios have become common, users daily carry a large number of songs with them. With memory type audios that allow their users to listen to a large number of songs continuously without need to change mediums, a style in which the users not only sequentially listen to songs of each CD album, but listen to songs shuffled in all CD albums and their favorite songs arranged as play lists has become common. It can be said that the degree of freedom of which the users listen to their favorite songs in their favorite orders has increased.
However, it is assumed that the users listen to each song from the beginning to the end. In addition, there is a non-sound region between songs. In other words, one song is the minimum unit. Thus, the user has to listen to music on the basis of one song. The user's concentration, namely his or her enthusiasm, breaks at such a non-sound region between songs. As a result, the users are difficult to continuously listen to songs with his or her tension kept.
FIG. 28 shows conventional music reproduction using song A and song B. In this case, the two songs are reproduced with their original tempos. Of course, there is a non-sound region between these songs.
Thus, a technique of combining a plurality of music materials and editing them was developed. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-44046 discloses a technique of combining a plurality of music materials that are input through a user's keyboard and mouse and allowing him or her to interactively edit them and to enjoy the reproduced songs. In the technology, sound pieces such as sound patterns and one-shots and tips composed of effects applicable to sound pieces are assigned to individual keys of the keyboard. When the user presses the keys, tips corresponding thereto are executed. When a plurality of keys are pressed at the same time, corresponding tips are combined and output. In addition, by successively pressing keys, corresponding tips are chronologically combined and thereby a song is composed.
However, with the foregoing technique disclosed as Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-44046, it is difficult to recompose a song by connecting parts of a plurality of songs in such a manner that their beats are kept equal like with a remix created, for example, by a disc jockey (DJ). A DJ is currently a common occupation. There are label companies that dedicatedly deal with remix music. The number of users who enjoy remix music is increasing.
The present invention was created from the foregoing point of view. An object of the present invention is to provide a method of creating music edit information used in editing many songs recorded in a record medium such as a hard disk or a flash memory in such a manner that all or parts of them are overlaid or connected with their beats kept constant. Another object of the present invention is to provide a music editing apparatus that uses music content as materials and creates a new song (music content) corresponding to edit information based on the foregoing creating method. A further object of the present invention is to provide a record medium on which edit information described according to the creating method for the music edit information is recorded.